Old Clothes

I found some old clothes yesterday that I had carefully boxed up and stored in the garage. I remember doing it because I was in one of my "throw it all out" phases and yet I couldn't let these go. The skirts have hand painted designs and I wore them incessantly. I'm not sure why I stopped, just that I did, but I couldn't part with them either.

I tried them on today and they didn't feel right. It wasn't that they didn't fit because they did. Perhaps it's that I no longer fit them. I think I've moved on and though my body has remained the same, my spirit has not. That "old feeling" wasn't there.

This happens in our spiritual lives, too. Suddenly a prayer ritual becomes stale or a new understanding comes about and changes our point of view about who God is or who we are in God. To try to remain in the same place spiritually is to go backwards and stifle the move of the Spirit. As Jesus said, new wine is put into new wine skins, otherwise the fermenting wine will burst the old skins.

The Holy Spirit is a powerful force, continually breaking into our preconceived ideas if we are open to it and revealing God in a fresh way. Scriptures we've read dozens of times may take on a different meaning or we see new possibilities in the standard doctrine. We have the choice of moving into uncharted waters or remaining on the shore, of trying to hang the old clothes in the closet again or making room for a new style.

Some of the mainstream churches seem frantically to be trying to recapture the past while many of  the faithful apparently are hearing from God in ways that are inclusive and empowering.This fermenting wine is stretching the old skins. We can only pray: "Lord, send forth you Spirit and renew the face of the earth."